This site is always on the look-out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

This site is always on the look-out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

General

Escape from the Room, the Sutton-based company, has launched what, I think, is the first of its kind in the English language. Escape from the room: the Curse of Old Maid Milly is an escape the room style book, loosely based around their first game. (Full disclosure: I was asked to write the foreword)

Tickets are selling out for the Escape Room industry conference in Nottingham on October 16th. They’ve made one final extension with only 22 tickets now left so get in fast.

North West England

The international franchise Exit the Room look like they’re opening a branch in Manchester – interestingly right behind one of Breakout’s venues.

South East England

U-Escape opened in Bournemouh with a single game, the Barbershop Mystery.

East of England

Cambridge Escape Rooms launched their latest game, Heaven & Hell, an import of one of the most highly regarded escape rooms in Budapest.

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

A couple of people have asked questions recently related to how many escape rooms the UK can sustain. Truth be told, I don’t really know the answer but I was interested enough to try to pull together a few statistics from other countries. I grabbed them from anywhere I could get them easily – sometimes just taking them direct from a report and sometimes finding a list and adding them up by hand.

The numbers are inevitably approximate – I may have made minor errors when counting, the lists aren’t necessary complete and games appear and disappear on an almost daily basis in most of these regions. I do believe the numbers are about right.

The table below is ordered by number of rooms per million population to give you a feel for how densely filled the markets are. Obviously a lot of factors affect these numbers – planning laws, when the first game appeared, labour costs, tourist numbers etc. Read into the data what you will…

If you’ve got any other statistics that I can add then let me know via comments below. I won’t add them indefinitely but if I get more stats over the next couple of weeks then I’m happy to drop them in.

This site is always on the look-out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

General

The big news this week is the announcement of the first UK escape room conference in Nottingham. Tickets are on sale and running out fast so if you’re an owner then I’d recommend you get in and book!

It’s not really news but this site’s detailed escape room listing has now been upgraded to include information about duplicate games. Hover over the duplicate icon () and you’ll get information about where else the game is present in the UK including alternative names. Remember that there are now region specific pages too – follow the links from the top of the page.

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

You might have been envious if you read the article on Exit Games earlier in the year about Up the Game in the Netherlands. Well, if so, good news – the inaugural Escape Room Industry Conference has just been announced, and it’s being held in Nottingham on 16th October this year.

Details are still being released but I’m reliably informed that Nick Moran of Time Run fame will be reprising his pitch on the Tools of Immersion that was well received at Up the Game. On top of that you can expect talks and panels on technology, set design, franchising, in-game feedback, clueing systems, educational opportunities and promotion with more being announced in the coming weeks. That’s a huge range of content that should cover pretty much all your escape room needs.

The day starts at 10am and the talks/panels continue through till 6pm with a break for lunch. It doesn’t end there, though – they’ve booked out space for after-conference networking opportunities which will be available through until 11pm. Sounds like a fun-filled day!

If that sounds of interest then you should probably move quickly – tickets are limited and they’re priced incredibly cheaply to maximise access. I don’t expect them to last long. The initial capacity has been set at 70 people. While there’s a hint that they can extend that to cater for more people, it looks like they’d need to negotiate extra capacity at the venue so you’re taking a risk if you don’t get in soon. Tickets are available here.

After several successful unconferences, it’s great to see the team at Escapologic and Sarah from S² take the opportunity to try out something new. Thanks also to those industry heavyweights who are helping everyone move forward with their games by putting on presentations.

This site is always on the look-out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

Yorkshire and the Humber

It’s been open for a few weeks now but I keep on forgetting to add it in: Stuck in the Riddle opened in Huddersfield in mid-August with their first game entitled The Dungeon.

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

This site is always on the look-out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

After last week’s quiet, things are obviously hotting up for the new school term, with plenty of new openings:

Cheddar Gorge and Caves is the latest traditional attraction to add escape rooms to their offering. They’re running two games: Caved In, an hour long attraction; and The Vault, a thirty-minute experience. They were also visited this week by the local press.

East of England

Thinking Outside the Box close Stranded at the end of this week to make way for a new game – no mention as to what that theme will be yet.

Locked in a Room Milton Keynes opens its doors this week with Timelock and Invisibility Gene. Both games are taken from their other centres and, with each having four copies, it seems like they’re heavily targeting the corporate market.

Virtual Reality Centres

For those of you interested in VR escape rooms, Belfast has a new VR centre: VR Party.

If you pay any attention to the escape room news, then you’re probably already aware of moviESCAPE, who launched a new Star Wars escape room this week and got plenty of press coverage.

It’s not clear whether it’s actually open, but it’s certainly pretty close, and the booking page for Time Race in Bury near Manchester has opened. Two games to start with – the Invitation and Vault 17.

Yorkshire and the Humber

Clue HQ Sheffield opens this week with the perennial Clue HQ room, Bunker 38, and another popular room from their other venues, Cell Block C.

Ireland

It’s actually been open for around six months, but Exit Athlone has only just appeared on my radar in spite of having two rooms, Clown Prince of Crime and New World Order.

Ealu Escape Rooms is, in comparison, a relative newcomer, having been open only four months in Westport. With the Hidden Temple and the House in the Woods, that means Ireland’s total of known rooms has grown by about ten percent this week!

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

This site is always on the look out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

On to the news

As we draw to the end of the summer, it’s been a relatively quiet week although the South East doesn’t seem to have got the memo 😉

East of Midlands

Lincolnshire Live made mention of the new Enigma Rooms venue in Retford.

Ace Ventura has opened at The Lockey, also in Bournemouth. Note that this is a separate venue from their other two games.

London

The Case of the Dynamo Diamonds opened at Popup Escapes in Putney last week. As suggested by the venue name, it’s a popup game so you’ll only have three months if you want to go and experience it.

North West England

Lock Down Exit Games in Warrington are teaming up with a local scare attraction and a Quasar site to put together a Hallowe’en escape room.

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, significant discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Welcome to your weekly escape room rumour round up packed full of new games, venues and media mentions. Apologies to those of you who missed last week’s edition – I was away in Warsaw for the weekend so didn’t have time to gather all the news updates together.

This site is always on the look out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

History Mystery have opened their second site at Blickling Church in Norfolk, the first permanent UK game to open in an active church. The church is connected to the Boleyn family so it should come as no surprise that the game, The Queenmaker, is centred around Anne Boleyn.

Unfortunately I was too late to spot this in time to enter but it looks like there was a running/escape room hybrid taking place in Malvern last week.

It’s obviously the time for hybrid events with the Quiztal Maze taking place last week in a pub in Nuneaton. According to the advert it was a pub quiz with escape room elements. For now it seems to be a one off but if that looks interesting then I’d suggest getting in touch to find out more.

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.

Welcome to your weekly escape room rumour round up packed full of new games, venues and media mentions.

This site is always on the look out for new games or venues that are opening, references in the media or anything else that might be of interest to the readers, so please do send an email if you spot anything of interest. That applies to owners too – feel free to send me your news for inclusion here. Don’t be shy!

That’s all I’m aware of. If any of the above is incorrect or if you’re aware of other news, discounts or competitions, then let me know via email or in the comments below and I’ll include updates in the next edition.